Virgin Galactic joins the reality TV space race

Reality TV is set to become a little more out of this world. This morning, Virgin Galactic and NBC announced plans for a Survivor-like series that will send the winner to space. Dubbed Space Race, it is one of three space-based reality TV shows that could be gracing our screens in the coming years – assuming producers can get their hands on a working spacecraft.

“For the past 10 years I have relentlessly pursued my dream of using a TV show to give an everyday person the chance to experience the black sky of space and look down upon mother Earth,” says executive producer Mark Burnett, who has previously created other reality shows like Survivor and The Voice.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo is a six passenger, two pilot, sub-orbital craft designed to give wannabe astronauts a few minutes in space. The company has sold more than 600 tickets so far, with prices currently set at &dollar;250,000, but has yet to conduct a commercial launch. The first flights were initially set for 2008 but have since been repeatedly delayed. Founder Richard Branson announced a 2014 date last month.

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As a result, Burnett and Branson have not announced when the programme will air, nor given details of its exact format. All we know is that participants will gradually be eliminated as they compete for the winning ticket to space, and viewers will get a behind-the-scenes look at Spaceport America in New Mexico.

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Space Race is not Burnett’s first attempt to televise space flight. In 2000, he announced Destination Mir, a programme that would have seen contestants train for a mission to the Russian space station Mir, but the plans were scrapped after the station was de-orbited in 2001.

It is also not the only space-related show currently attempting to get off the ground. Last month, Sony Pictures Television announced a partnership with Dutch firm Space Expedition Corporation (SXC) for a show called Milky Way Mission, which will see celebrities compete for a flight to space aboard an XCOR Aerospace Lynx craft.

For those looking beyond low Earth orbit, Mars One is also continuing with its plans to send humans on a televised one-way mission to the Red Planet by 2023. Mars One does not yet have a craft capable of leaving Earth, but CEO Bas Lansdorp says it plans to launch its first show in 2014 detailing the crew selection process.

He welcomes the news of other potential space-based programmes, but says Mars One will be different. “This is much more serious than selecting a few people who are going to become pop stars, it’s more like The Apprentice. It’s a very serious job position that we’re selecting the best people for.”